DistantNews
Support us
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

‘Wild Horse Nine’ puts CIA intervention and conspiracies in Allende-era Chile under the spotlight

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Martin McDonagh’s film “Wild Horse Nine” follows two CIA agents sent from Santiago to Easter Island in pre-coup Chile.
  • The dark comedy examines U.S. intervention, the CIA’s alleged operations and the political tensions surrounding Salvador Allende’s government.
  • The Venice screening received an ovation, while cast members praised the script’s humor and layered characters.

Two CIA agents who are supposed to be operating undercover become entangled with two idealistic young left-wing students in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” a darkly comic film set in Chile before the 1973 coup.

It is a very unlikely friendship. They are left-wing students, very idealistic and full of life.

· Mariana di GirolamoShe described the relationship between the students and the undercover agents.

Chris, played by John Malkovich, and Lee, played by Sam Rockwell, arrive in the country on a covert mission. Their boss, portrayed by Steve Buscemi, sends them from Santiago to Easter Island. Chris’s unpredictable behavior and his friendship with the two students, played by Chilean actor Mariana di Girolamo and Brazilian actor Ailín Salas, threaten Washington’s objectives.

Di Girolamo described the relationship as an unlikely friendship. Her characters believe deeply in Salvador Allende’s new political project before meeting the two agents and forming a singular bond with Chris. The men also carry the weight of past operations and new personal and professional conspiracies.

I have always been interested in knowing the truth about what the CIA has been doing for the last 50 or 60 years and the atrocities it has committed all over the world.

· Martin McDonaghThe director explained his interest in questioning the agency’s history.

McDonagh said he has long wanted to understand what the CIA has done over the past 50 or 60 years and the atrocities it has committed around the world. He said he likes questioning authority and ideas people are told to accept as true. Comparing the film’s period setting with the present, he called it “strange” and “disturbing” that the United States now seems less concerned with hiding covert actions.

In the 1970s, at least, those horrible people were intelligent enough to keep their actions secret. But it feels like everything is getting more and more stupid.

· Martin McDonaghHe compared the film’s era of covert operations with the present.

The film’s Venice screening drew an ovation. Malkovich said it addresses two deeply traumatic events, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Allende’s death and the coup against him, with humor, intelligence and honesty. He praised the script, while Buscemi and Rockwell highlighted its layered story and characters. The production also introduced the cast and crew to the landscape of Easter Island.

It deals with two deeply traumatic events with a great deal of humor, elegance, intelligence and a certain honesty.

· John MalkovichThe actor discussed the film’s treatment of Kennedy’s assassination and Allende’s death and coup.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog